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agriculture cutting Articles

About the Pacific Institute The Pacific Institute is one of the world’s leading independent nonprofits conducting research and advocacy to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. Based in Oakland, California, we conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in ...

Castor is an important non-edible oilseed crop of the family Euphorbiaceae with great utilitarian value in industry, agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors. The presence of hydroxyl group and double bonds in ricinoleic acid (D-12-hydroxyoctadec-cis-9-enoic acid) imparts unique chemical and physical properties for castor oil which makes castor oil a vital industrial raw material and ...

Farmer-owned renewable energy enterprises are increasing rapidly — with alternative fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol and distiller’s grains becoming mainstream. MINNESOTA is home to 16 ethanol plants generating approximately 550 million gallons per year. Most of these new facilities are producer-owned. Many others are under construction or are in the planning process. In 2005, Minnesota farmers ...

The agricultural sector is believed to be the backbone of the Zambian economy thereby alleviating problems associated with poverty and food security. The development of the sector is viewed as one sustainable way of economic growth and ‘Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger’ which is goal number one of the Millennium Development Goals (UN, 2000). The sector contributes to the growth ...

Gene editing offers dramatic advances in speed, scope and scale of genetic improvement. It also offers an opportunity for more nuanced GMO governance. Very few technologies truly merit the epithet “game changer” — but a new genetic engineering tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 is one of them. Since we first developed the ability to alter the genetic material inside a plant or animal in ...

All living creatures need two things to survive: food and water. A new WRI analysis shows just how much tension exists between those two essential resources. A new interactive map from WRI’s Aqueduct project reveals that more than 25 percent of the ...

The recent discovery of the bio-waste and excreta treatment of a former civilisation in the Amazon reveals the possibility of a highly efficient and simple sanitation system. With the end product that was black soil they converted 10% of former infertile soil of the region: Terra Preta do Indio (black soil of the Indians). These soils are still very fertile 500 years after this civilisation had ...

The stabilization roles of two species, Gleditshia caspica and Parrotia persica, were studied on slopes in northern part of Iran. Landslides developed in this area because of incorrect land use and clear cutting of forest to change to agriculture land. Spread planting of Gleditshia caspica and Parrotia persica can help to control instability of soil in this area. Bishop’s method was used to ...

Composting of waste plant materials and its use in agriculture and landscape sites is an environmental friendly way of reducing waste material and conserving the environment. In this perspectives a survey has been performed at the Dubai based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture to compost the plants based waste material (lawn cuttings-grass) to compost. The material was inoculated with ...

Agriculture imposes a heavy and growing burden on Europe's water resources, threatening water shortages and damage to ecosystems. To achieve sustainable water use, farmers must be given the right price incentives, advice and assistance. Food is intrinsically bound to human wellbeing. Besides the importance of good food for good health and the pleasure we derive from eating, agricultural ...

The modernisation of farm-to-market supply chains is important for increasing farmers' income, alleviating poverty, cutting food waste and improving the affordability of food staples, according to the authors of a book. The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains: Enter the Dragon, the Elephant, and the Tiger is a joint ...

The Sirmour district, Himachal Pradesh, India, lies in the western Himalayan range. Mixed-farming is the main occupation in the mid-hills and basically consists of agriculture, livestock and forest produces. Hence, communal forests (mushtarka), common grazing lands (ghasnies) and gravity-flow irrigation systems (kuhl) were found to be the three major common pool resources in the villages of ...

The surface required to grow sufficient feedstock for today’s biobased fuel production is less than 0.008% of the global agricultural area of 5 billion hectares. In a world of fast-growing population with an increasing demand for food and feed, the use of feedstock for non-food purposes is often debated controversially. The Study Report “Non Food Biodiesel – Enhanced Economics ...

Italy is faced with increasing pressures to reduce the amount of refuse disposed of in landfills. Compost represents a contribution to solve this problem. To give information for the correct management of composts as nitrogen fertiliser, it is necessary to assess their nitrogen release rhythm compared with the crop needs. This semi-field trial investigated the performance of three different ...

We often hear about big global environmental issues such as deforestation, poaching or overfishing and forget that there are individuals at the heart of these activities. Have you ever stopped to wonder, what motivates someone to cut down trees in the first place? How often do they contemplate the impact they’re having on the environment? And what experience or insights lead to ...

The world’s agricultural system faces a great balancing act. To meet different human needs, by 2050 it must simultaneously produce far more food for a population expected to reach about 9.6 billion, provide economic opportunities for the hundreds of millions of rural poor who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, and reduce environmental impacts, including ecosystem degradation and ...

By 2050, 80% of the earth’s population will live in cities and 3 billion more people will need to be fed. The simple fact is we are running out of available land to grow enough food to feed them. If we can’t grow our cities outward to find more arable land, the only solution is to grow them upwards. This may change the way we design cities forever.The problem is real and immediate. Even by most ...

Is it possible to reduce pesticide use without compromising crop yields? Yes — and then some, according to a new study published in the journal Insects. Researchers at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom measured pesticide use and crop yield at 85 project sites in 24 Asian and African countries practicing integrated pest management ...

As of 2007, the shrinking forests in the tropical regions were releasing 2.2 billion tons of carbon per year. Meanwhile, expanding forests in the temperate regions were absorbing 0.7 billion tons of carbon annually. On balance, a net of some 1.5 billion tons of carbon were being released into the atmosphere each year, contributing to global warming. The tropical deforestation in Asia is driven ...

The pump installed at Shirley Farm, near Montgomery in Powys, transfers water from a 15 feet deep well, along 20 yards of 1” diameter pipework to a 100 gallon tank located in the top storey of the farmhouse. The water is then delivered for use throughout the 20 acre dairy farm as required. Farmer Austin Griffiths, now retired, replaced the original hand pump with a rotary pump when he first moved ...